SIBL 2010/11 Round 4 - Reading

On 23rd January 2011 the fourth round of the Southern Indoor Bouldering League (SIBL) took place at Reading Climbing Centre.

The SIBL is designed as a fun competition and is attended by a huge range of climbers covering all ages and abilities. The problems are set so everyone can have a great time, even if you have no competition experience.

The Reading competition was well attended, with 186 climbers taking part. Reading Climbing Centre's team of route setters, along with Gaz Parry, worked feverishly to create over 60 problems. The new bouldering wall was soon packed with eager competitors and it wasn't long until some of the harder testpieces started to fall. The regular strong boys and girls were in attendance with Kitty Wallace, Caliean Harker, Jon Partridge, Barnaby Ventham and Ben Read amongst many others impressing the spectators. Many of the region's walls like The Westway, The Castle, Calshot and Evolution all entered big teams of talented youngsters.

Over a period of six hours the competitors climbed their way through all manner of problems from thin very technical slab's to fierce horizontal roofs. At 5pm the final shout was given and the competitors handed in their scorecards and sat down to watch the head-to-head. In each round the top five scores from the Open category get to battle it out and, with a few competitors drawing points, seven competitors in total were called up to take a look through the moves with the route setters. One by one they attempted the route, emerging from isolated to an applauding crowd, with only a few powering through the crux. Jon Partridge showed why he constantly appears near the top of the pack latching the last hold of the problem with apparent ease. Kitty Wallace also deserves a mention with her very impressive ascent of the problem, which received a huge applause from the crowd.

This year's SIBL series is also being covered by Ed Ratcliff and his media company, Slender Films. Check out the Reading Video below.

The Judges hand out 30 on the spot goody bags worth £30 to competitors who impress them through out the day with one lucky winner. This time Katya Dowkin walked away with a one-on-one private coaching lesson with Gaz Parry.

SIBL would like to thank all of the competitors who turned out despite and especially Reading Climbing Centre for letting us take over the place all day. A special thanks to Gaz Parry and the Reading route setter for their fine work.

The next round is on the 13th February 2011 at The Arch in London. For more information visit www.sibl.co.uk